Researcher’s Background:
Why This Study?
Why This Study?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• 2013 Texas Legislative Session: House Bill 5
– New Foundation High School Program—provide more
flexibility
– Personal Graduation Plans as a requirement
– 5 Industry Endorsements
– Performance Acknowledgements—Industry
certifications . . .
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• Remediation: Higher Education’s Bridge to
Nowhere” by the Complete College America
organization (2012)
– “More than 50% of students entering two-year colleges
and nearly 20% of those entering four-year universities
are placed in remedial classes.”
– U.S. students starting in college remediation courses,
this report shows “Fewer than 1 in 10 graduate from
community colleges within three years and little more
than a third complete bachelor’s degrees in six years.”
– For Texas, 51% of the students entering a two-year
college and 22.5% entering a four-year college are
enrolled in remediation courses.
– As far as completing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree
in Texas, the results are the same as previously
mentioned at the national level.
PURPOSE FOR THE STUDY
• To determine if Personal Graduation
Plans, with the incorporation of
programs of study and other career
components, can be used as a mapping
tool in increasing students’ ownership
in their own college and career
planning
PURPOSE FOR THE STUDY
• Three objectives:
– To examine the success of the various career
exploration and planning activities implemented by
secondary school counselors in order to increase
students’ ownership in college and career planning;
– To determine the impact of PGPs developed by the
secondary counselor, student and his/her parent(s) in
increasing their value of an education, as well as the
importance of students furthering their education and
training beyond high school; and
– To determine how secondary counselors utilized
career and technical education teachers (CTE),
specifically Family & Consumer Science (FCS) teachers,
in developing a program of study for particular career
pathways to help students further confirm their
career path beyond high school in five FCS career
cluster areas.
Chapter Two:
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
Theory of Self-Efficacy
(Bandura)
Life-Span, Life-Space Theory of
Career Development (Super)
Whether a person chooses
to perform or refrain from
performing a task
Career development is a lifelong
process
Counselor’s confidence in
their ability to provide
career counseling
Stages of Career Development
Receiving the appropriate
career development and
training
Tasks to be accomplished in each
stage
Learning from experience
Career maturity is necessary to make
effective career decisions and develop
a successful career plan
PERSONAL GRADUATION PLANS
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in
2004, which created IEP’s—provided a transition plan
Introduction of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) as an
education initiative through NASSP in the 1996 “Breaking
Ranks” report. In 2007, Education Commission of the
States stated ILPs were being mandated in 20 states
National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for
Youth (NCDW), the Boston University School of
Education, and other non-profit agencies began
conducting research on the effectiveness of ILPs
ILPS help with various student outcomes
CAREER DEVELOPMENT & PLANNING
Been around since the beginning of the Vocational
Education Movement in the late 19th and early 20th
century due to the Industrial Revolution
Increased the need for vocational guidance due to a large
number of immigrants from nations with poor economic
opportunities, which was also occurring with people
migrating from rural to urban areas
Dramatic change in family structures—increasing
number of women and children entering the
workplace
Various career development theories and
practices began to deal with the social, political,
and economic forces shaping the national
environment
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Quantitative:
1. Did the specific career development and
planning activities provided to students from
the school counselor cause a significant
difference on any of the career planning
outcomes for increasing students’ ownership
in college and career planning? If yes, in what
areas?
• Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference on
any of the career planning outcomes for students
receiving the specific career development and
planning activities from their school counselor.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Quantitative:
2. Did the career development and planning
workshop cause a significant difference in
school counselors’ level of self-efficacy in
career counseling? If yes, in what areas?
• Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference
on the level of career counseling self-efficacy for
school counselors as a result of the career
development and planning workshop.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Qualitative:
3. What components of the PGP process did
secondary school counselors believe increased
students’ ownership in college and career
planning, as well as the value of their
education?
4. How did secondary school counselors utilize
career and technical education teachers (CTE),
specifically Family and Consumer Sciences
teachers, in developing a coherent program of
study for particular career pathways to help
students further confirm their career path
beyond high school?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Mixed Methods:
5. How did the qualitative outcomes explain
the quasi-experimental results?
Chapter Three:
METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
• Employed the Explanatory Sequential Mixed
Methods Design
– 1st Phase: Collecting and analyzing quantitative
data
– 2nd Phase: Implementing qualitative data designed
to help explain the initial quantitative results
• Two reasons:
– Strength in drawing on both quantitative and
qualitative research and reducing the limitations of
both approaches
– Maximized the interpretations of the data to
provide a more comprehensive understanding of
the research questions
SELECTION OF SAMPLE
• Population consisted of secondary school
counselors in 1A-6A schools in Region 17
• Sample consisted of school counselors who
were approved and agreed to participate in
the study
• Second sample consisted of secondary HS
students chosen by their respective school
counselor to take the Career Planning Scale
assessment
SELECTION OF SAMPLE
• Control Group—HS students not chosen by the
school counselor to participate in specific career
planning activities based on their Career Planning
Scale assessment results in designing their PGP
• Experimental Group—HS students chosen by the
school counselor to participate in specific career
planning activities based on their Career Planning
Scale assessment results in designing their PGP
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH AND DESIGN
INSTRUMENT
QuasiExperimental
Design
Approach
Aimed at evaluating interventions and it did
not use randomization
Purpose was to demonstrate causality
between an intervention and an outcome
This study used both pre-intervention and
post-intervention measurements
Use the Non-Equivalent Group Design to
select groups that are as similar as possible
to fairly compare the treated group and
non-treated group
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH AND DESIGN
INSTRUMENT
Career
Planning
Scale (CPS)
by Dr. John
Liptak
Help students identify, choose, plan for, and
develop an effective career plan
Mirrors the career planning process and
allows school counselors to quickly and
efficiently gather information about students
career planning readiness
Contains 48 career planning skills statements
divided into six scales: Self-Knowledge,
Knowledge of the World of Work, Knowledge
of Occupations, Career-Decision Making,
Career Planning, and Career Implementation
Provided strong evidence of reliability and
validity in previous research studies
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH AND DESIGN
INSTRUMENT
Career
Counseling
Self-Efficacy
Scale
(CCSES) by
O’Brien,
Heppner,
Flores, &
Bikos
Measures secondary school counselors’
self-efficacy in providing career
counseling
Contained 35 items in five categories
rated on a 5-point Likert scale, as well as
six demographic questions
Determined the professional
development training provided for
counselors in October
Four graduate studies were conducted to
show strong evidence of reliability,
validity, and factor structure of the CCSES
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN AND
INSTRUMENT
Grounded
Theory
Design
Used to generate a theory that explains,
at a broad conceptual level, a process or
an interaction about an essential topic
Researcher uses multiple stages of
collecting, filtering, and categorizing the
data to draw new meaning (theory)
from the data
Constant Comparison Method is a
process that involves taking one piece of
data (i.e. interview) and comparing it to
all other pieces of data that are either
similar or different. This method
integrates four stages.
MIXED METHODS RESEARCH DESIGN
Explanatory
Sequential
Mixed
Methods
Two-phase project: Quantitative results
inform the types of participants to be
purposefully selected for the qualitative
phase and the types of questions that will be
asked
Pre-test survey data was collected from
secondary school counselors to develop the
appropriate career development and
planning training
Next, it was followed up with a qualitative
interview with each school counselor to help
explain the pre-test and post-test survey
responses
DATA COLLECTION--Quantitative
• Career Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale::
– Pre-test in October 2014
• Career Mapping Research LiveBinder
– Post-test in May 2015
DATA COLLECTION—Quantitative
• Career Planning Scale:
– Pre-test in November 2014
– Meet four times with students to complete
various career planning activities
– Post-test in May 2015
DATA COLLECTION--Qualitative
• Qualitative Component:
– One-on-one, informal and open-ended
interviews with secondary school counselors
in May 2015
– Twelve interview questions
– Interviews were audio recorded
– Written field notes
– Additional data counselors felt free to share
DATA ANALYSIS
• Quantitative:
– Paired-samples t-Test used to determine the
differences between the pre- and post-test
groups’ scores on the CPS and CCSES
– Used Statistical Package for Social Sciences
(SPSS) software for analyzing the results
– Level of significance of .05
DATA ANALYSIS
• Qualitative:
– Constant comparative method in Grounded
Theory
• Data was coded into themes, then categories,
and then conclusions were formed
Category 1:
CounsTime
Codes
Category 2:
CareerPlanActiv
Codes
Category 3:
PGPProcess
Codes
Category 4:
CCPOwnership
Codes
Time to implement
career activities/
resources
College activities
HB 5 understanding w/
parents and students
Clarification of what
ownership means
More time in
classrooms
Career activities
Coherent sequence
with college degree
plan
Paradigm shift for students
and parents
Provide time and
resources
Identified steps to
meet career goals
Focus more on
programs of study
Taking dual credit increased
ownership
More time for PGP
student meetings
See importance of an
education
Forcing students and
parents to have career
conversations
Administrators and
teachers supportive
DATA ANALYSIS
• Mixed Methods:
– Explanatory Sequential Design Method
• The quantitative and qualitative results were
examined separately in this approach
• The CCSES quantitative results were then used to
plan the qualitative career development and
planning training for school counselors
• The CPS and CCSES quantitative results also
helped determine the types of qualitative
interview questions
RESULTS
• Quantitative Results:
– 1st Research Question:
• 263 students participated in the experimental
group from 8 high schools
• Results showed an increase (p<.05) on four of the
six CPS outcomes for students receiving the
specific career development and planning
activities from their school counselor
• Null Hypothesis was rejected because the
experimental group did benefit from receiving
career planning activities by school counselors
related to their CPS results
RESULTS
Quantitative CPS Results:
Career Planning Scales
High
Schools
Experimental Group
Pre-Test
Experimental Group
Post-Test
N
Df
M
SD
M
SD
Sig. (2tailed)
t
Self-Knowledge
8
7
18.68
.99
19.86
1.13
.014
3.25*
Knowledge of World of
Work
8
7
16.07
1.21
17.22
2.00
.168
1.54
Knowledge of Occupations
8
7
16.25
1.30
18.23
1.29
.021
2.96*
Career Decision-Making
8
7
15.51
.94
17.28
3.27
.144
1.65
Career Planning
8
7
14.02
2.04
16.65
1.82
.045
2.44*
Career Implementation
8
7
14.41
1.40
16.74
1.37
.003
4.54*
RESULTS
• Quantitative Results:
– 2nd Research Question:
• Results showed there was a significant increase
(p<.05) in their level of self-efficacy in career
counseling for all career counseling activities due
to the career development and planning
workshop treatment
• Null hypothesis was rejected
RESULTS
• Quantitative CCSES Results:
Post-Test
Results
Pre-Test Results
Career Counseling
Activities
N
Df
M
SD
M
SD
Sig. (2tailed)
t
Individual & Group
Counseling Skills
8
7
2.24
.27
3.08
.10
.000
7.91*
Individual/Group
Assessment
10
9
1.81
.34
2.90
.21
.000
11.78*
Information/Resources
5
4
1.69
.24
2.98
.28
.000
13.91*
Diverse Populations
7
6
1.19
.14
2.79
.28
.000
23.70*
Ethical/Legal Issues
5
4
2.00
.26
3.38
.23
.000
45.47*
RESULTS
• Qualitative Results:
– 3rd & 4th Research Questions:
• Included 10 interviews with secondary school
counselors to assess the effectiveness of the PGP
development process with students
• Four major themes were pivotal in increasing
students’ ownership in college and career
planning based on the coding of the interview
transcripts and other data. The PGP as a:
–
–
–
–
Self-awareness and career exploration tool;
College- and career-driven mapping tool;
Decision-making and goal setting tool; and as a
Conversation tool
RESULTS
• Mixed Method Results:
– 5th Research Question:
• Confirmed how the qualitative outcomes explained
the quasi-experimental results
– PGPs make a significant difference in increasing students’
ownership in college and career planning:
» Understand who they are and how this relates to a
particular career field(s) they may want to explore
» Recognize the value of their education by taking
career-related courses and participating in extending
learning activities to better prepare them for success
at the postsecondary/workforce levels, and
» Spending time with their counselors for career
counseling support and resources in making more
informed career decisions towards successfully
reaching their future career goals
CONCLUSIONS
• Importance of providing career development
and planning activities at all levels of education
(Super’s Theory)
• Importance of increasing counselors’ selfconfidence in career counseling (Bandura’s
Theory)
• Importance of students seeing value in their
education so they stay engaged and motivated
in school, which emphasizes the importance
that a “one-size-fits-all” approach does not
work and prepare students to be college and
career ready
IMPLICATIONS
• PGPs are effective in increasing students’
ownership in college and career
planning:
– Identify and develop their interests, skills,
and talents in narrowing down their career
preferences;
– Make connections to their learning and the
application of that learning necessary for
success in a particular career pathway; and
– Measure what is important for achieving
college and career success.
IMPLICATIONS
• When career-driven PGPs are
implemented effectively:
– Complete buy-in by campus administrators,
faculty, and parents;
– Key part of a students’ educational
experience in helping them choose the
appropriate career path beyond high school;
especially if they are shown later to be
successful at the postsecondary/workforce
levels.
IMPLICATIONS
• Career & Technical Education Programs:
– Increase enrollment in CTE courses because it is
multidisciplinary and encompasses many career
fields;
– Programs of Study (POS) have been developed
for most career fields to help students take
advantage of the opportunities available
relevant to their career interests;
– Provide professional development training for
CTE teachers in developing POS for CTE-related
courses, which emphasizes the importance and
purpose for taking specific CTE courses; and
– CTE teachers needs to work more collaboratively
with school counselors.
IMPLICATIONS
• Secondary School Counselors:
– Follow the ASCA model that emphasizes
counselors cannot work in isolation;
– Possibility of school administrators removing
some non-counseling duties due to the
importance of the PGP process for students
(time factor);
– Faculty experiencing students who are engaged
in their classes because students have a better
understanding of the value of their courses
through POS; and
– Faculty and school counselors becoming
valuable partners in meeting students’ needs.
IMPLICATIONS
• Secondary School Counselors:
– Collaboration would provide a better
learning environment for students, as well as
increase parental involvement, because of
complete buy-in of the PGP process by all
campus educators;
– Parents would see the need to make career
development and planning a priority; and
– Community would receive college and career
ready students who are excited to become
involved and apply what they have learned
to real world situations or problems.
IMPLICATIONS
• Secondary School Counselors:
– Based on overall CPS results:
• Drive professional development for counselors,
as well as all campus educators, in learning how
to integrate career development and planning
into curriculum;
• Promote student gains to justify the importance
of collaboration between all campus educators in
the PGP process; and
• Serve as the perfect instrument for developing
students’ career maturity throughout high
school.
IMPLICATIONS
• High School Programs:
– Increase student performance in classes;
– Increased scores on college entrance exams;
– Increased number of students taking and
passing career-related industry certifications;
and
– Improved academic motivation, engagement,
decision-making and personal accountability.
IMPLICATIONS
• Economy/Workforce:
– Less shortage of workers in technically-skilled
fields that are high demand, high wage, or
high skilled;
– Decreased cost to the taxpayer due to
students working in high-paying jobs that
help them sustain a good living; and
– Decreased number of individuals seeing the
need to do something illegal to make ends
meet and end up in our prison systems.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Career Development and Planning Training:
– Offer this training in June for counselors while
they are still on duty and hold them accountable
for implementing the training they received with
students; or
– Offer secondary counselors to participate at the
regional or state level AchieveTexas Professional
School Counselor Academy, or
– Offer this training in collaboration with CTE
teachers at regional education service centers to
increase the opportunity to understand each
other’s roles.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Career Development and Planning
Training:
– Modify the Career Counseling Self-Efficacy
Scale for CTE teachers to determine how
confident they are in helping students with
the career development and planning
process
– Offer this training for new CTE teachers at
their respective conferences to increase their
self-efficacy in the career development and
planning process
RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Career Development and Planning
Activities:
– Give school counselors time to implement
career development and planning activities;
– District and school administrations should be
compliant with the Texas Education Code
§33.066 and take away the responsibility of
administering and/or assisting with statemandated testing instruments; and
– Provide awareness through professional
development to counselors and CTE teachers of
career development resources and employability
skills embedded in CTSOs’ lessons.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Programs of Study:
– Provide training for CTE teachers and school
counselors to learn how to develop effective
POS for the career pathways associated with
their CTE field; and
– Consider partnering with local postsecondary
institutions to possibly provide careerrelated dual credit courses for students
either online or providing a place for them to
teach on campus.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
• PGP Research Study:
– Consider replicating this study at later times to
determine if the same results occur;
– Consider doing a longitudinal study that includes
CTE teachers and school counselors as a team;
– Provide professional development for district
and school administrators on the results of this
research study; and
– Promote the Career Planning Scale assessment
to be administered to all students on every high
school campus in assessing their career planning
readiness.
QUESTIONS